Phil Donahue’s Impressive Net Worth Deserves Attention

Phil Donahue’s net worth may seem staggering when looking purely at the numbers, but considering he spent nearly four decades on TV, it’s not so surprising.

Donahue was a 20-time Daytime Emmy winner for his long tenure on TV. In May 2024, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The talk show host passed away on Aug. 18, 2024. In one of his final interviews, he told PEOPLE that he sometimes missed working, adding, “Sometimes I’ll shout my question to a guest on the screen and hope they’ll somehow hear me.”

Find out how much wealth Donahue amassed over his 7,000 TV episodes through the years.

Phil Donahue became famous after he was born on Dec. 21, 1935, and grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. He began his career in media in Ohio in the 1950s, and his talk show, then titled The Phil Donahue Show, premiered in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967.

The show moved its home base to Chicago in 1974 and was renamed Donahue. By 1985, Donahue moved studios to New York City’s famous 30 Rockefeller Center.

Throughout its legendary run, Donahue tackled topics that other daytime shows shied away from, including abuses in the Catholic Church (of which Donahue described himself as a “lapsed” member), prison life, politics, abortion, apartheid South Africa, the Cold War, and more. He even hosted one of the most highly watched debates of the 1992 primary election between Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown Jr.

During its run, which ended in September 1996, Donahue and the show won 20 Emmys, an equal number for the host and the show. The show is credited with popularizing Chicago-centered daytime TV and paving the way for stars like Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, and Montel Williams.

Donahue told PEOPLE that he believes the core of every good talk show is curiosity.

“I still believe that, despite our differences, we’re all part of this sprawling global family,” he said. “And we just need to get to know each other, so that we can share the world together.”

At the time of his passing in August 2024, Phil Donahue’s net worth was estimated at $150 million, per Celebrity Net Worth.

He and his wife Marlo Thomas are supporters of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other philanthropic efforts, including a Notre Dame Scholarship Fund in Donahue’s name to aid students in attending his alma mater.

The Phil Donahue Show first premiered in 1967 and was later retitled Donahue. His primetime interview show, also titled Donahue, premiered in 2002 and was canceled in 2003—allegedly because Donahue was opposed to the Iraq war. Donahue later hinted that the decision was largely because his liberalism was not quite welcome with General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC and a major defense contractor that would profit from the conflict.

Donahue’s rep said he died from a “long illness,” but the specific cause of death was not revealed publicly.

Donahue died at age 88.

Source: PEOPLE, Celebrity Net Worth